EVS RS8 features / how well do they work?

Perfect Form Fit Frame: EVS claims the RS8’s frame will form to all leg contours. The frame does have some flex to it, which allows it to form to the leg somewhat when the straps are tightened down.

Lightweight & impact resistant injection molded shell: This is my favorite thing about the EVS RS8 knee braces. I have always thought it would be great if someone would create a knee brace that was kind of halfway between a knee pad and a full out knee brace. EVS did just that with the RS8. Whether it’s true or not you always hear rumors of knee braces breaking legs, the RS8 takes away that worry.

Click Tec Buckles: The Click Tec buckles are nice. You adjust the strap for your leg the first time you use them, then can easily adjust the fit for perfect comfort every time using the ratcheting click tec buckle. The only bad thing about the click tec buckles is that sometimes they don’t want to release. After some fiddling around I found out I had to push the strap in a little to get it to come out when this problem arises.

Tru-Motion 2.0 anatomically correct hinges: These hinges are great. They are the same hinges that come on EVS’s higher end WEB and Axis knee braces. They do seem to move naturally with your knee movement.

Dry-Suede comfort liner: It’s supposed to keep you cool and dry, but isn’t noticeably better than liners I’ve had in other knee braces or pads.

Dual Defense total tracking knee cup design: This is a great idea and it works well to protect your knee from impacts in most positions when it’s working correctly. The one problem is that tension strap that helps to keep the inner knee cup in the right place pulls away from the velcro it attaches to and even pulls EVS’s crappy velcro off of the frame. This makes the dual defense system not fully effective because the strap isn’t able to work properly and keep the cup in place.

What does EVS need to fix?

Sizing: The sizing is a big issue. After measuring my leg, I determined that I needed a size medium. The medium was too small, to the point that it wasn’t really wearable. I got a size large and that was too big! If you look at both sizes side by side, it looks like there should be a size between medium and large. The RS8 shares a size chart with the EVS WEB, my size medium WEB’s fit me perfect.

Velcro: EVS seems to have an issue with getting velcro to stick to their knee braces. On my WEB’s I fixed this with super glue, for some reason on the RS8’s I couldn’t get the super glue trick to work. The velcro is a big issue with these braces because it detaches from the brace and causes the dual defense knee cup to work incorrectly. The velcro peeling off from the frame also causes the padding on both the top and bottom part of the brace to slide out of place.

My Crash Test: I had a really hard crash, same one that I tested my Kali Prana Carbon helmet with, it was third gear over the bars. The right knee brace was bent and one of the click tec buckles broke, but my knee was alright for the most part. The knee did hurt and caused me to walk with a limp for about a week, but after a month was good as new.

This is the brace that was bent in the crash.

This one survived the crash. See any difference between the two?

Final Thoughts: The EVS RS8 is lighter than and not as bulky as a standard knee brace. It is a great product for someone who doesn’t want a full on knee brace, but wants the support that you can’t get from regular knee pads.